My Kia Car Fairy Came In the Middle of the Night

Sometimes, fairy tales really do come true. Grab a cup of coffee and let me tell you a little story…

Back in November I came home to Phoenix to surprise my younger sister for her 40th birthday. A few days later my dad was scheduled for a shoulder replacement surgery. It did not go according to plan. There was a ton of infection and a few other complications. He was sent home to have antibiotics administered twice a day via a pic line. We were all scared.

I canceled all of my travel plans for the next two months. The only one I kept was going back to Indiana to spend Thanksgiving with my mother’s side of the family. I hadn’t been there for a holiday since I was a little girl. My grandmother has dementia pretty bad and had been asking about me a lot, so I knew I couldn’t cancel this trip.

I stayed with my Dad for 10 days before I got on the plane to spend a week in Indiana. When I arrived back in Phoenix in December, my stress level was really high. Even though I wasn’t traveling across the US, I still needed to travel within Arizona so I could work. My parents only have one vehicle so that wasn’t an option. Rental companies had little inventory as is typical because of Holiday travel. I wasn’t certain what I was going to do and were figuring out my options.

Then I received a call from Kia. They heard that I was in town unexpectedly and wanted to know if they could drop a car off for me to use for a week. YES! I sat there stunned – did I hear him right? People, it was the Holidays, cars were scarce. I sat there thinking… there really is a Kia Car Fairy!

Kia came late in the evening with this beautiful 2016 Kia Optima SX-L Turbo. I keep getting surprised by Kia over and over again. These are not the same Kia’s I looked at just a few years ago! This was also the first time that I had someone walk me through the vehicle. So impressive! I picked up a few tidbits about Kia that I didn’t know. I bid him goodnight and was excited to drive the Optima in the morning.

The next day I really checked the car out and sank into the leather seats. I’m a sucker for leather seats… but I had never seen maroon leather seats. I’m really into aesthetics right now and this maroon looked great against the white exterior. There was also brown leather trim throughout the Optima. Love!

One of the first things I do when I get a new car is setup the Bluetooth. I like to play my music, take phone calls, and be hands free. The Bluetooth-enabled cars let me do just that! What’s even better than just having Bluetooth is when the car is a WiFi hotspot. That makes this tech girl very, very happy!

When you first turn on the 2016 Optima, the vehicle goes through a system check. It only takes a few seconds but it checks every major system in the car. It even checks the tire pressure and let’s you know when the car is needing service! I don’t even have to ask my dad anymore to check my fluids and tires as the new car’s tech is doing that for me.

The navigation system has a split screen. This way you can see where you are going and also what song is on Sirius. I love how big the buttons are on the dash and that they are under the display screen. It is just easier for me with these short arms of mine. 🙂

One of my favorite features in new cars these days is the BSD System that alerts you when a car is in your blind spot. It will also beep at you if you are coming upon the car in front of you too fast. I’m on the vertically challenged side and I often have a difficult time with blind spots. I don’t have that worry in the Optima!

One of the absolute best audio systems, in my opinion, is that of Harmon/Karmon. I knew immediately when I saw these speakers in the Optima that the sound system would be insane. I was not disappointed. The sound was amazing! It made driving around Arizona just that much more awesome.

The Kia has the Save My Seat option. I know there is a technical term for it, but I call it the Save My Seat button. When you have a car with more than one driver, this is oh, so needed. That way when you get into the car you push the button and the seat goes back to your personal preferences. See – it saved my seat!

I get lost in checking out all the buttons and what a car can do. The first thing I look for is the heated seats button. Next I check out the left of the steering wheel to see just what tech made it into this car.

I drove the 2016 Kia Optima SX-L Turbo all over Phoenix and down to the Casa Grande Ruins. I went every place around the state that I needed to. I also took my Dad to his appointments. He couldn’t believe how nice this Kia Optima was and it was super easy to get him in and out of it. First time I have ever had to buckle my dad into a car too btw.

This car was very fast, extremely comfortable to drive, and I kept saying over and over – I can’t believe this is a Kia!

PS – Thank you Kia for being my Kia Car Fairy and not turning into a pumpkin at midnight.

My blog is about how losing everything made me start living a life filled with travel and adventure. I'm a storyteller... I allow you to see the struggles and triumphs, the tears and smiles, the vulnerability and the chaos. I let you see me.